La grande avventura

Was this show only on for one season? That amazes me because I still remember many of the episodes so vividly. I was about 10 years old when "The Great Adventure" was on television and I always wondered why my history classes in school couldn't be this engrossing. I still remember the farms on the western plains being attacked by swarms of locusts, a young Andrew Jackson being struck by a British officer's sword, the founding of the Society for the prevention fo Cruelty to Children", and the claustrophobic feeling inside the USS Monitor. Why don't they have programs like this today? Why don't they run this series again on TVLand?

This show was well written, well produced and ambitious. It was a touchingly uncynical effort. One of the producers was the great John Houseman, Orson Wells' partner in the Mercury Theater and later the intimidating Professor Kingsfield of "The Paper Chase".

Some of the performances I can remember are Rip Torn as egomaniac John Fremont, Lloyd Bridges as an aging Wild Bill Hickock who is too vain to wear glasses, Peter Graves as Daniel Boone, Jeremy Slate as Nathan Hale, Robert Culp as Sam Houston and James McArthur as doomed World War ll hero Rodger Young. Earl Holliman played a dust bowl farmer fighting locusts. I think Michael Rennie played Jefferson Davis.

Van Heflin was the host/narrator, who was later replaced by Russell Johnson who just served as narrator.

"The Great Adventure" was on during the 1963-64 season. It was on Friday nights from 7:30 to 8:30 pm eastern time. "The Great Adventure" was followed on CBS by "Route 66" at 8:30, "Twilight Zone" at 9:30 and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" at 10:00. A strong line up.

I too enjoyed the Great Adventure series. I can still remember small parts of them after 40 years.

My favorite show was the one about the CSS Hunley. This show inspired me to read more about the various Civil War battles that took place on water.

I also enjoyed the show about Jean LaFitte's contribution to the War of 1812.

I do recall that one of the originals was re-released after the series had ended. It was about Harriet Tubman. It would be good to see the whole series released in a DVD collection, but I have gotten nowhere with this request.

It had a theme song by Richard Rogers, and was narrated by Van Heflin. It told stories with performers of quality: Bob Cummings as "Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse" a pioneer in inoculation for smallpox fighting prejudice in Thomas Jefferson's day; Jackie Cooper as the commander of the Confederate submarine " C.S.S.Hunley" on it's fateful cruise to sink the "U.S.S. Housatonic"; Barry Sullivan as "Holland" the reporter who discovered that President Grover Cleveland (Leif Ericsson) had a secret operation for cancer; Sullivan again, taken in by prospectors John McGiver and John Fiedler, in buying the land of their great diamond field sight unseen - only to have J.D.Cannon (as Clarence King)show that everyone has been fooled by them; Lee Marvin as a California raisin grower fighting the railroads there in 1905. These episodes have not been seen in decades, and deserve to be seen again. Like PROFILES IN COURAGE it has been relegated to the obscurity bin of (ironically enough) history.

I still remember this wonderful series from my youth. LLoyd Bridges portrayed Buffalo Bill Cody. There was an episode about the founding of the SPCA; the first submarine, etc. Does anyone know where DVDs or VHS copies can be obtained? CBS produced it but no of their web pages offer this series for purchase. As a teacher, I am especially interested in showing thee episodes to my students. What a wonderful way to study history. I'm also interested in getting a copy of the opening theme. After much research, I've discovered that Richard Rogers wrote it. It is also on file in Washington DC in the music archives but I can't find where the music was published separately. A little help? Coachgary